PANAMA CITY — Bay County’s unemployment rate rose slightly in November, while the number of employed residents and the labor force continued to decline.

The county unemployment level for November was 6.3 percent, up from 6.1 percent in October, and down from 8.2 percent in November 2012.

Kim Bodine, executive director of the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, said a rise in unemployment is not uncommon in the area during the winter months.

“With so many jobs tied to tourism in our area, it is typical to see unemployment rise during the winter months when tourism is slower,” Bodine said. “On a positive note, our local employment situation seems to be improving over the year, showing an increase of advertised job openings and significant decrease in the number of unemployed individuals compared to last November.”

While the number of unemployed individuals has significantly decreased over the last 12 months, so has the labor force, which fell from 87,527 in November, 2012 to 83,777 in 2013. The labor force in October also was notably higher than November, with 86,269 residents.

Numbers from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity also show a declining number of employed residents, dropping from 81,047 in October to 78,483 in November, a loss of 2,564.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Bay County area lost 1,600 jobs over the year, an annual job loss rate of -2.3 percent.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent in November, the same rate as the previous month. This is the lowest Florida’s unemployment rate has been since July 2008 and lower than the national unemployment rate of 7 percent.

The new figures show that the state added 6,100 jobs last month, with about 600,000 people in the state out of work.

Gov. Rick Scott has contended the state's unemployment rate is dropping due to his policies, but state economists have said another reason for the decline is that people were leaving the labor force or had delayed their job search.

The state's job growth over the last year has been in trade, transportation, utilities as well as in professional and business services, construction and in tourist-related businesses.

Monroe County, which includes Key West, as well as Walton and Okaloosa counties in the Panhandle had the lowest unemployment rates in November, at 4 percent. Hendry County, in the state's rural interior, has a 11.3 percent unemployment rate followed by Flagler County at 9.2 percent. Hendry's rate is due to long-term job losses in government employment.